Social networking vs. social media
If you haven't already read it, get thee over to synecdochic's fascinating series on "Why Monetizing Social Media Through Advertising Is Doomed To Failure." Part one is here, part two is here, and part three is here. Great stuff, from one who would know.
To lift one tiny bit out of a set of posts that makes a much larger point, though, I have to say that I'm particularly interested in the distinction she makes in the third installment between "social networking" and "social media". To quote:[W]e need to define the difference between 'social networking site' and 'social media site', because that difference makes a big difference in the social economy of the service. The two terms are not interchangeable, ultimately. Social networking seeks to (for the most part) replicate a person's existing social web (think of sites like Classmates.com and LinkedIn.com); its purpose is to define your ties with others. Social media takes that one step further: it seeks to create and nurture social ties to others, through the content that you provide.
If you think of a site as a game, the "winning conditions" of the game will be a good clue as to whether the site is a social networking site or a social media site. If you win the game when you collect all of your existing friends, or collect as many new friends as possible, you're on a social network. If you win the game when you provide content that's interesting enough to get other people to build relationships with you, when your social currency is the content you provide, you're on a social media site.
These are very, very, very hard terms to define empirically and not by example -- especially since most sites combine elements of both. Let's try for an example, in the hopes it might help anyone who's confused: MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn are social networks with social media features grafted onto them. LiveJournal, YouTube, and DeviantArt are social media sites with social networking features grafted onto them.
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Social networks have a very low barrier to engagement: you can participate on a social network without much commitment on your part, and it doesn't take much effort from you. Ross Mayfield's Power Law of Participation covers this. Social networks are on the lower end of that curve. Social media is on the high end.
As one who loves livejournal and doesn't entirely get facebook (even though I do have an account and do use it, at least somewhat), I find myself nodding here. I've always thought the term "social networking site" for services like facebook and myspace was a misnomer, because most of the time there's very little actual networking going on on the site itself. Instead, people are networking face-to-face or in other internet fora, and those connections are being replicated (I like that description!) on the site. People rarely meet interesting new people through facebook, and it's much more difficult to deepen your existing connections there, too.
I really like this distinction. It goes a long way toward explaining why I vastly prefer livejournal--the online tools I most want are the ones that facilitate actual online communication, while I can take or leave the ones that simply make it easier to organize your offline life.
To lift one tiny bit out of a set of posts that makes a much larger point, though, I have to say that I'm particularly interested in the distinction she makes in the third installment between "social networking" and "social media". To quote:[W]e need to define the difference between 'social networking site' and 'social media site', because that difference makes a big difference in the social economy of the service. The two terms are not interchangeable, ultimately. Social networking seeks to (for the most part) replicate a person's existing social web (think of sites like Classmates.com and LinkedIn.com); its purpose is to define your ties with others. Social media takes that one step further: it seeks to create and nurture social ties to others, through the content that you provide.
If you think of a site as a game, the "winning conditions" of the game will be a good clue as to whether the site is a social networking site or a social media site. If you win the game when you collect all of your existing friends, or collect as many new friends as possible, you're on a social network. If you win the game when you provide content that's interesting enough to get other people to build relationships with you, when your social currency is the content you provide, you're on a social media site.
These are very, very, very hard terms to define empirically and not by example -- especially since most sites combine elements of both. Let's try for an example, in the hopes it might help anyone who's confused: MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn are social networks with social media features grafted onto them. LiveJournal, YouTube, and DeviantArt are social media sites with social networking features grafted onto them.
[...]
Social networks have a very low barrier to engagement: you can participate on a social network without much commitment on your part, and it doesn't take much effort from you. Ross Mayfield's Power Law of Participation covers this. Social networks are on the lower end of that curve. Social media is on the high end.
As one who loves livejournal and doesn't entirely get facebook (even though I do have an account and do use it, at least somewhat), I find myself nodding here. I've always thought the term "social networking site" for services like facebook and myspace was a misnomer, because most of the time there's very little actual networking going on on the site itself. Instead, people are networking face-to-face or in other internet fora, and those connections are being replicated (I like that description!) on the site. People rarely meet interesting new people through facebook, and it's much more difficult to deepen your existing connections there, too.
I really like this distinction. It goes a long way toward explaining why I vastly prefer livejournal--the online tools I most want are the ones that facilitate actual online communication, while I can take or leave the ones that simply make it easier to organize your offline life.